Latest technology? Nah…. I’ll stick with my Gossen.

What you see above is an interesting little device that is referred to as a ‘Robotic printer’. I spotted this Kickstater item over HERE and I found myself very curious. Check out the video on the site, and prepare to be amazed. Yeah, to be honest it is pretty awesome.

Sort of.

Actually, not really. I already have something that does mostly the same job and looks damn sexier.

Hey, I love that bright line through the middle.

So did you watch the video? Well, if you didn’t here’s the run-down. It is a device that is slightly larger than my clenched fist that allows you to print on paper what you are writing on your computer or phone.

Lovely! So you can take your Macbook into a cafe, and print out your writing while you sit and sip on a delicious brew. All to the speed of a printer that shuffles along the page slower than I’ve seen patients walk along hospital corridors using a Zimmer frame.

BYO keyboard, n’ power.

Now don’t get me wrong. I can see some instances where this is a useful idea – especially in locations where printers and power are hard to access. Well, sort of power. After all, your Macbook and printer are likely to run out of juice before you finish printing a page and will need to charge it up.

And let’s not talk about the comparison of ink in a ribbon v’s a cartridge.

I love kickstarter projects. I always see some amazing and creative ideas. And this really is amazing and creative. I wish them all the luck with their venture. And for the maker community, this is actually really cool.

But as a typewriter owner, I just found myself screaming at the screen “Just use a f**king typewriter” as the printer ‘turtled’ across the page.

8 thoughts on “Latest technology? Nah…. I’ll stick with my Gossen.”

you're right… that's a little Rube Goldberg printer. It invites all sorts of questions… can it print on a slope, on any kind of surface, on the back of your hand etc. I think it'd be great (up-scaled) as a graffiti writer. But still, the blaring white elephant in the room: why do something slower when there's a typewriter or a pen nearby? Just 'cool value' doesn't cut it. Even the SR-71, at the time one of the most advanced planes in the world, depended on a grunt-piece of existing technology (twin V8s) to start up its engines. If you're going for speed, 'don't waste energy on something you have a solution for'. In fact, the article that came from, is well worth a read: http://www.sbnation.com/2014/3/7/5447310/sr-71-blackbird-pilot-interviewrino

Interesting. I just bought a new (used) printer today at the thrift. A couple weeks ago I chanced on two bagfulls of ink cartridges for a Canon Pixma, 20 of them for $10. The printer was much easier to find, prolly half a dozen to take my pick from. That's the smart way to do it – score the ink in quantity first, then look for a printer that takes the ink you have. 😀

That was a very interesting article. With the exception of the Skunkworks project stuff, I'd not read any of hat before. thanks for posting it on. As for those questions, you know.. I don't think they are even far enough to having a working production prototype to really understand the limitations. I have a suspicion that it also have a very restricted amount of space it can use on a page, as well as a lack of tolerance to different surfaces – i.e. folded paper or cardboard, which are situations where something like this might…. might… actually have a use.